Started from a nano, now I'm here

[Fuel Doodle]

So I have a question for all you controller pros. I have many things now that need electricity. What 6 things do I pick to plug into my cerebra controller? I have skimmer, ap700 (probably), 2 lights for ATS, return pump, probably 2 in tank power heads, probably 2 heaters, and maybe 2 BRS pumps for 2 part. What 6 and why do I pick those out of the 11 electrical things? Thanks!


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[Fuel Doodle]

So I water tested today!

The ATS was so loud! I think I'm going to get rid of it... not happy.


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[farfromsea]

Nano looks awesome as does the DIY. Picking up that shattered glass mustn't have been too fun when you were drilling lol.

Can't give advice on the controllers but I wanted to ask you how you like have GSP on the back of the glass of your nano? I've been offered some free GSP and I'm considering trying to get it to grow on my glass since I can't reach it to scrape the algae anyways.

 

[skiingfast]

In the Nano:

Does the GSP, clog the wier, and cover the return? The powerhead looks clean, is that done manually to remove GSP from it?

 

[skiingfast]

Does the ATS not get water at the lower left or 4 o'clock position because the drip bar sags to the other end?

 

[Fuel Doodle]

Nano looks awesome as does the DIY. Picking up that shattered glass mustn't have been too fun when you were drilling lol.

Can't give advice on the controllers but I wanted to ask you how you like have GSP on the back of the glass of your nano? I've been offered some free GSP and I'm considering trying to get it to grow on my glass since I can't reach it to scrape the algae anyways.

The GSP is really cool on the back glass. If you want it to grow all over, glue it to the bottom center. The GSP grows up and out very well, but grows slow to not at all downwards.


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[Fuel Doodle]

In the Nano:



Does the GSP, clog the wier, and cover the return? The powerhead looks clean, is that done manually to remove GSP from it?

The GSP used to not clog the wier for over a year. Then the GSP grew into the edge of the wier and I cut it back... big mistake for my nano. I had a huge algae explosion which caused me to buy my first RODI unit and saved my nano. I guess the cut up GSP released a lot of biological material into my nano and my crappy water change schedule wasn't adequate enough to handle the dye off and healing. After that 2 months of brown bomb, I was so surprised to see my GSP spring back to life in a couple of days once the RODI unit was used. From this experience, I decided not to cut the GSP again and let it grow where it may so I don't cause a massive algae bloom again.

Today, the GSP fully covers the weir and my fish tank is now skimmed by overflowing into the back compartments. Thankfully, the back wall is lower than the glass and this is still possible.

Also, the GSP has now started t grow on the side of the tank. I will take a pic tomorrow and show you how it grows as the GSP is very interesting.


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[Fuel Doodle]

Does the ATS not get water at the lower left or 4 o'clock position because the drip bar sags to the other end?

I messed with the ATS a lot today. Much much quieter, but still makes noise... based on some pump data for the M1, I'm thinking the ATS is about 50db now.

Posted 2 in case one was blurry. I think I'm going to cut the ATS out and just use regular over flow into mesh sock with external recirculating protein skimmer.



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[Fuel Doodle]

Had a great weekend if work!

Thought through a plan to silence my ATS. Here is the first part of my project, a box to reduce noise. Box wouldn't fit, so I turned it into a parallelogram:

Completed step one of project:

Also, did massive amounts of water and pipe testing. Everything turned out great with no leaks and is dog approved:

That same dog got sprayed by a skunk this weekend at 1am... 1qt peroxide, half cup baking Soda, and dish soap cleaned him right up after 2 hours of washing with the hose outside in 40F...

Anyway, drained the tank and my father-in-law was so kind to help me bring it in

Ohh, and one more thing. LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!

Looking forward to doing some aquascaping today and filling with salt water!

My rock has been curing since early July in a trash can in my garage and I have done a couple of water changes. I'm going to let it cycle in my main tank for a month just to be safe, but the time is near!


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[Fuel Doodle]

So my goal was to aquascape Monday. Then I realized I needed about 85gallons of water and had 0 ready. My 150 GPD RODI system makes about 7 gallons an hour. So I need the system to run for about 10+ hours to get the water. Seeing as I only have about 3-4 hours a day after work, I should now have enough water today (3 days later) to finish making the water.
After 2 days of making RODI water:

Also, my nem got twisted somehow:

I waited until the lights went out and I twisted the nem back to normal just to be safe.

Lastly, my nano is doing too good again and stuff is growing out of control with no room. Gotta get this new tank up fast!

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[Fuel Doodle]

So yesterday I added the rock to my tank:

I realized I have now cycled this rock for 4 months to the day of adding it.

I also electrocuted myself slightly. My pump had some weird bubbles coming out of it when I submerged it. I thought this was okay as this pump ran for 4 months in a garbage can just fine. Plugged it in and the pumped turned on so I thought nothing of it. I stuck my hands in to do some work and 30 seconds later got a slight shock with a blue flash of light. I unplugged the pump and now my water has been stagnant for 24 hours.

What type of glue did you use to lock your rocks in place? Is silicone okay to use? I want to keep my rocks wet so the last 4 months of my cycle isn't ruined.

Thanks


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[Hooloovoo]

Fuel Doodle, I am no expert, but I don't think you want to use silicon. I don't think it would bond very well to the rock, and it needs at least 24 hours to dry. I would suggest marine two-part epoxy. I understand that Tunze makes a "gum" that dries really fast. That's probably what I would use if I needed to bond rocks that I wanted to add back to the water quickly. For bigger pieces, you might drill holes and connect them with plastic dowels for added strength and stability.

 

[Fuel Doodle]

Fuel Doodle, I am no expert, but I don't think you want to use silicon. I don't think it would bond very well to the rock, and it needs at least 24 hours to dry. I would suggest marine two-part epoxy. I understand that Tunze makes a "gum" that dries really fast. That's probably what I would use if I needed to bond rocks that I wanted to add back to the water quickly. For bigger pieces, you might drill holes and connect them with plastic dowels for added strength and stability.

Thanks for the tips. I don't have rods or a large enough drill bit and don't feel like messing with that stuff even though it would probably be the most stable. I was looking into BRS and saw some good options. I think I might look at my LFS today so I don't have to wait. I did some gluing with my reef safe small tube that I used to use for gluing frags down and that worked really well! Then I ran out... lol.

After finishing the left side, water was very cloudy but after 12 hours has started to clear up:

Here are some photos of my experience:

4 hours settling with M1 pump running:

12 hours with pump running:

I also worked on the sump and fine tuned my parallelogram box I made for the ATS and put excess rock in the sump:

My cat, Doodle, was very interested in my work yesterday.


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[Fuel Doodle]

Tank is clearing up nicely! Going to make a lid for the sump this weekend. Maybe test the cerebra.

Also, I decided to not use the protein skimmer that I bought. If my ATS goes south, then I'll ditch that system and go to a skimmer.

Probably going to grab two Tunze nanostreams 6055s. I think those are the 2nd smallest from Tunze that are controllable. I really wanted the gyre but saw they make a poor ceramic that wears out. Don't want to waste my money on poorly engineered pumps. Anyone have any idea how to cover the Tunzes so I don't make anemone soup?

I'm really struggling with my light choice. My lid height probably means I can't get the ap700 which is what I really want to do. So I'm thinking either two 360s or maybe T5 HO in there. Help me!


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[farfromsea]

Scape is nice. Fat cat adorable. What is your lid height?

 

[Fuel Doodle]

Maybe 5 inches. Tank is 48" long by 23 tall. 18 inches in the center and 12 in the corners front to back (72 bow).


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[farfromsea]

Yeah the only solution I could see would be: build a canopy or get two lights but the overlap could be too much I'm not sure. Looks Like you can hang the 700 at 5" but the 360 needs 12 inches. I'm too lazy for T5s now that LEDs are good lol

 

[Fuel Doodle]

Yeah the only solution I could see would be: build a canopy or get two lights but the overlap could be too much I'm not sure. Looks Like you can hang the 700 at 5" but the 360 needs 12 inches. I'm too lazy for T5s now that LEDs are good lol

What do you mean you are too lazy for T5s? Also, after the 52 weeks of feeding was talking about how much better the anemones did under T5 compared to LED makes me really consider T5s for my build over the kessils that I thought I wanted.


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[farfromsea]

Changing bulbs and dealing with the ballast. I know that is silly but I always have a lot on my plate so one less literal bulb to change is a relief with LEDs lol. Tons of people do T5s & even T5 LED combos. I don't think it is a bad idea! Go for it you can always change the lighting later and sell the T5s but I'm sure you will be successful

 

[Fuel Doodle]

Didn't get as much done this weekend as I thought I would. Family went with me to a pet show and visited the wife's family Sunday.

My tank water is almost perfectly clear end to end.

Need to glue the Fiji together but I'm liking the left side a lot. Not sure what I will do with the right side yet:

Brother-in-law got bit by the fish bug due to me months ago. My old discus tank inspired him I think and he moved from typical freshwater to discus to salt

Check his current tanks out:

And of course salt:

His nem just recently split and he has made a few tank upgrades as well. Those include carbon & gfo, makes his own RODI now, fancy Tunze pump, and his tank is looking good. Maybe you have seen his work on nano reef as I believe he hangs out on that forum.

Enjoy!


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